March 8, 2004

Social psychologist Brewster Smith urges an activist approach

By Jennifer McNulty

Fifty years after contributing to the U.S. Supreme Court case that banned school segregation, social psychologist M. Brewster Smith is calling on colleagues to engage in work that contributes to human betterment.

Smith, a professor emeritus of psychology at UCSC, was one of the psychologists whose work informed the court’s landmark ruling in the Brown v. Board of Education case. He laments the fact that professional pressures and research incentives discourage today’s scholars from engaging in action-oriented work.

“The focus on scientific rigor has come at the cost of breadth,” said Smith, author of the new book For a Significant Social Psychology: Collected Writings of M. Brewster Smith (New York: New York University Press, 2003).

The book is a collection of essays and new commentary about social psychology that touches on topics as diverse as prejudice, McCarthyism, and the Bush administration’s “war on terrorism.”

In calling for research that addresses contemporary social issues and advocacy based on psychological analysis, Smith hopes to stimulate intergenerational dialogue and to counter what he calls the “somewhat stultifying” professional climate in the field of social psychology today.

At 84, Smith has earned the title of elder statesman in the field of social psychology, though he has served in that capacity throughout much of his career, as a commentator, editor, and leader of influential organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA). He will participate on a Brown v. Board of Education anniversary panel at the APA’s annual meeting in July.

In the early 1950s, Smith testified against school segregation as an expert witness in a case before a Richmond, Virginia, federal appeals court that was one of four lower court cases on which the Supreme Court based its Brown decision. Throughout his career, Smith explored the intersections of society and human personality, making lasting contributions to the understanding of how political opinions relate to personality and the psychology of combat soldiers, among other areas.

When Smith entered the emerging field of social psychology some 60 years ago, the field held the promise of integrating scientific excellence and human values, but it has become more narrow and specialized over time until, said Smith, researchers today find themselves “muscle-bound” by the “hard-nosed scientific focus.” The tenure-driven push for frequent publication in refereed journals discourages investment in longer-term research endeavors that don’t pay off with quick results, he said.

Yet the need for interdisciplinary approaches is more urgent than ever, said Smith, as the global gap between “haves” and “have nots” widens, hopelessness spreads, and the United States exercises its power unilaterally in the post-9/11 world. The division between the United States and underdeveloped Islamic nations is being fueled by the Bush administration’s policies, said Smith.

“Obviously, if people are deprived, powerless, and hopeless, they become more likely to want to seek their salvation in the other world by doing things like suicide bombing,” said Smith. “We can’t stamp out terrorism as long as we’re the big, wealthy, comfortable power. We should be taking collective action, preferably through the United Nations, rather than taking on the burden of being the policeman of the world. We need to reduce the enormous gulf between us and the rest of the world.” Understanding the psychological components of international relations should be a high priority, said Smith, who is heartened by increasing cooperation with social scientists in the developing world.

“I distrust Bush greatly because he deliberately gets us into real wars--and his metaphorical war on terrorism--as a way of inducing more and more people to behave like sheep,” said Smith. “Creating this sense of emergency makes people more likely to turn to charismatic leaders. It’s important to resist and not go along, because if the courageous minority speaks up and is visible, it can have an important influence on the rest of the people.”

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